Genres

Visitors Review

gradyharp 2012-05-16 10:15:32

Thuddingly Dull

CHAMELEON, we are told at the beginning of this film, is based on atrue story about a French lad who disguises himself as other people asa way of gaining attention and 'love' which is apparently missing inhis life as a near orphan. Written by Natalie Carter andwriter/director Jean-Paul Salomé it misses the opportunity to use afactual story and transpose it to the screen in such a way that we careenough about the characters to become involved in the unfolding of thischarade. Unfortunately the writing and the casting and directing workagainst this and the result is a surprisingly uninvolving, fairlyboring tale. Nicholas Barclay (Marc-André Grondin) has been missing since age 13,for reasons unclear to the town's people in Baton Rouge. LA. Nicholasshows up in Spain after an auto accident, is treated for PTSD and ismutely amnesic until he suddenly talks and lets the hospital peopleknow that he is Nicholas Barclay, a missing person. He states he waskidnapped and forced into a child prostitution ring that involved rape,abuse and torture - the reasons he gives for his lack of memory.Nicholas's sister Kathy (Emilie de Ravin) spends her last money to flyto France to pick up her lost brother and return him 'home' - to hischain-smoking depressed mother Kimberly (Ellen Barkin in a surprisinglymonotone, phoned-in performance), Kathy's husband Brian (BrianGeraghty) and his sociopathic brother Brendan (Nick Stahl). Nicholas'sidentity is not clear to his family, except for his sister Kathy whooffers compassion and fights for Nicholas' rights: the others doubtthat their Nicholas is alive because of events they know to be true.The FBI in the persons of Tory Kittles and Famke Janssen investigate,doubting that Nicholas is who he says he is. After a dysfunctionalattempt to relate to most of his family, his story starts to unraveland the true story of what happened to Nicholas starts to emerge:'Nicholas' is Frédéric Bourdin, who after having plundered all thecenters for runaway minors and delinquents in Europe, even though hehas come of age, now passes himself off as Nicholas Barclay, shaves hisbody hair, and attempts to a carry off another 'chameleon caper' in theUS. The cinematic aspects of the film fail to make the story involving: thecolors are so washed out that it appears to be made on cheap film, thestory is disjointed with such scenes as Nicholas shaving his body hairreally adding little to the tale, the surprisingly dull performance byEllen Barkin is a shock, and Marc-André Grondin is simply not up tomaking us realize the potential of this fascinating story. FamkeJanssen and Brian Geraghty make the most of the roles they are given,but otherwise the cast is unremarkable. Grady Harp

joelcuerrier-1 2012-05-15 17:36:01

Festival des Films du Monde, 31 August 2010

I have seen this movie yesterday and the director went on to ask thatwe post reviews of his movie on this very site during the Q&A, so Ishall oblige. The heart of the problem seem to be that his vision wasrejected by the producers and that the final cut done by the producersis such a disgrace that he is going around in festivals to show his owncut.When I asked him if or when the movie would be released inNorth-America, he answered that it would most likely go directly toDVD, which is a shame cause it really was a tense, effective thriller,faithful to the real events it depict in a stylistically gorgeousmastery. It is a psychological thriller with great actors and a subtlyphotographed scenery of the deep south, in the down and dirty poorneighborhood of the drugged and drunk underclass. Of course, it isn'treally uplifting, but the characters are real people playing out theirdesperation. The narrative is well constructed and keep you interestedthrough out, especially in the case you had no idea about the event itportrays, you'll get drawn to it only through the sheer magnetism ofthe central character, who also happen to be despicable in many ways,like everyone else around him.So, let's hope you'll get a chance to see this, the way it was intendedto be seen. The director's cut wasn't longish or uselessly shocking,one part that was deleted involved the main character shaving his wholebody in the first scene. Perhaps, for the prude and easily upset, itcould be disturbing, but isn't that key to building tension in athriller, to disturb the audience. This first scene should be in themovie, cause it is key to the psychology of the main character. Seeinga grown man shave the hair off his chest shouldn't be cause forconcern, especially these days when many men are doing it to follow atrend that made hairy men undesirable. It's a surprising scene, as itis something I never seen depicted on screen, but I don't believe itwould offend neither men nor women. There is no actual nudity and verylittle violence in this movie.To conclude, if you have a chance and it is playing in a festival nearyou, try to see it and review it too. I believe it should get to beseen and get a proper distribution. It's a solid thriller that wasn'tjust meant to do the festival circuit.

dollarbillsemail 2012-05-11 00:00:47

An acquired taste movie

I found "The Chameleon" a somewhat difficult movie to critique. It'sthe true story of a young man that lives his life either through thefictitious characters that he creates or through real people whoseidentities he assumes. The movie centers on one such event in his lifewhere he assumes the identity of a mother's long missing son. When heis reunited with this acquired Louisiana family,he ends up getting morethan he bargained for. The mother is a chain smoking drug addict. Thesister is guilt ridden over not having protected the real brother priorto his disappearance. The step brother is abusive,threatening andpossibly a murderer. Of course,they don't know that he's really nottheir long lost relative…..or do they. Each of them,in their owndifferent twisted way,seem to need him and he,them. So,the truth reallydoesn't matter. Meanwhile,there are two F.B.I. agents who aresuspicious of the impostor,one of which has her own dark secret andreason for investigating the case. You have interesting characters hereand very good performances by everyone. Moreover,it's presented veryeffectively in a realistic gritty manner. That said,this movie will notappeal to everyone and probably not to most. Why? It's as if you walkedinto a theater after the movie started and left before it ended. Whatyou see is a snapshot into these character's lives….. and it's donevery well. However,you have no idea how the characters got to the pointthey're at and you're given no answers at the end. I suppose that itcould be best categorized as a good art house movie.

BloedEnMelk 2012-05-10 15:51:24

An intriguing case made to a less intriguing movie

"The Chameleon" is roughly based on the case of the disappearance ofNicholas Barclay, and the impostor Frederic Bourdin.The movie stays reasonably close to the facts, though there are somemayor things changed that IMO was totally unnecessary. At the sametime, more could have been done with other things. I am on purposegonna keep this all pretty vague; as I do not want to spoil anything.If you want to know about the real case, google on it. It is a veryinteresting thing to do.I would definitely have liked to have seen more background aboutFrederic. The case of Nicholas wasn't the first time he imposed as amissing child, neither was it the last time. As if the whole storyabout Nicholas wasn't bizarre enough, it gets more and more bizarre ifyou read up on Bourdin. He truly deserves the name Chameleon; it isincredible how good this guy is at languages and in blending in. I dounderstand that the movie's focus was on only one of his crimes, but Ithink a bit more history would have made it all even more absurd. Now,you almost feel at least a bit pity for Bourdin, but that should nothappen. After all, the guy was/is a very disturbed man who didn't givea *beep* about the feelings of his victims.The overall acting was not very good. Famke Janssen made the best of itand steals the scenes when she comes in, but I was unfortunately prettyunconvinced by the lead character. The way the story unfolds was justnot good enough to convince, and the characters way too shallow. Manythings are there in potential, but somehow it just doesn't work. Itcould have been an 'edge of your seat' thriller or drama, but it simplyisn't. Throughout the whole story, it just lacks something. An otherreviewer used the word 'dull', and I think that's quite a gooddescription. All in all; an intriguing case made to a less intriguing movie.(Ps: An interesting little fact; Bourdin himself worked as a creativeconsultant for this movie. )